"Remembering..."

When the Lunar Module "Eagle" landed on the moon July 20, 1969, I was on combat training maneuvers at Fort Sam Houston, Texas; a 21 year old, slick-sleeved airman participating in combat-readiness field exercises to become a member of the Air Force air police. When at 3:18 p.m. central time it was announced that "The Eagle Has Landed," a tremendous, pride-filled cheer echoed forth from the throats of a hundred plus men, all who were dogged-tired and sweat-soaked, but filled with renewed exhilaration to perform our best as fellow members of our country's military. It was a moment of awe and wonder. "Imagine," I thought to myself later that same evening as I laid under the Texas stars and stared intently at the orange globe that was just rising above the horizon, "for the first time..in my life time to boot...there are actual human beings walking on that surface..and those humans are Americans!" It was then, as it remains even unto this day, an emotional experience that defies my limited ability to gasp.

Now forty years later, I hope I never lose that sense of wonder and pride. I hope that some day we Americans will again return to the moon's surface and even look far beyond that tiny globe to distant destinations that for now we can only dream about. For it is in the dreams of mere children that great accomplishments are given initial birth and the stars no longer seem unobtainable. When we cease to give wings to our dreams, we cease to fly. When we cease to fly, we lose the will to try. And when we lose the will to try, we lose the will to live. It is best to dream and give flight to all that has yet to be accomplished. Therein lies life lived to the fullest.

I pray that I will live long enough to be again awestruck by man's audacity to seek and find the wonders of God's universe that lies just beyond our imagination, to strike our earthbound tents and indeed to venture forth to where no man has ever gone before. What an adventure!!